During operation of a cutting machine with a high-speed rotating saw blade, to avoid the operator being hurt by the saw blade in the case of contacting it carelessly, typically a protective device, i.e. a guard, is arranged to cover at least a portion of the circumference of the saw blade.
A guard assembly is known includes an inner guard portion and an outer guard portion, which can be engaged to each other. Normally, at least a portion of the saw blade is received in a space formed by the two blade portions. The outer guard portion is pivotable relative to the inner one about an axis parallel to a rotating axis of the saw blade. When it is needed to replace the saw blade, a fixing device between the two guard portions is released, and then the outer guard portion can be rotated upwards to a predetermined angle relative to the inner guard portion to expose the fixing flange of the blade, and the blade can be removed and replaced subsequently. After a new blade is fixed, the outer guard portion can be pivoted back to the original position and fixed with the inner guard portion. Yet, in most cases the saw blade can't be completely exposed to facilitate blade changing, and it is inconvenient to clean the inner side of the guard assembly. Furthermore, the guard as aforementioned is not applicable in some cases. For example, when a protrudent laser device is disposed at the front of the inner guard portion, the outer guard portion will be stopped by the laser device from rotating further.